My research which has had the most impact, and has led to law reform, is that which is open access.Professor Alysia Blackham, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne*
Open access is the term applied to research outputs that have been made freely available online. This includes journal articles, conference papers, books, and book chapters. Truly open access outputs will also carry open licences (e.g., Creative Commons licences) that allow further sharing and reuse.
Closed publications, by contrast, are paywalled. That is, they can only be accessed by paying a fee or using a subscription. Many universities have subscriptions to large journal or ebook databases. However, high and ever-increasing fees make such subscriptions inaccessible to many. Meanwhile, one-off access costs to articles or chapters can cost 40-65 AUD. This makes accessing research too expensive for many people.
Benefits of open access
Making your research publications open has many benefits, including:
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Altmetric data for 2019-2023 journal articles with University of Melbourne authors shows that 79.8% of open access papers received attention. By contrast, only 64.4% of closed articles received attention.* Attention, here, includes mentions in the news, social media, policy documents, and on websites.
* Altmetric data extracted from Dimensions on 20/1/2025. Scope: 2019-2023 journal articles with one or more UoM-affiliated authors. Here, “open access” includes publisher and repository pathways (gold, hybrid, green).
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Citation data for 2019-2023 journal articles with University of Melbourne authors shows that, on average, open access articles receive 25.1 citations. Closed articles, however, receive only 19.1 citations.* The open access citation advantage has been confirmed in several studies, including Piwowar et al. (2018).
* Citation data extracted from Dimensions on 20/1/2025. Scope: 2019-2023 journal articles with one or more UoM-affiliated authors. Here, “open access” includes publisher and repository pathways (gold, hybrid, green).
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“Publishing research findings behind paywalls creates barriers to the implementation of evidence-based change if practitioners, organisations, policy makers and the public cannot access this scholarly work.” (Gair et al., 2021)
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“For low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), OA publishing breaks traditional financial barriers and allows unrestricted, equal access to scholarly information to people all over the globe. Due to the high prices of journal subscriptions, developing countries struggle with access just as in developed countries, but to a greater extent and consequently with greater negative repercussions.” (Tennant et al., 2016)
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The Australian Government’s two major grant funders, the Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), have open access policies.
The 2022 NHMRC open access policy requires grant-related outputs to be immediately open access upon publication. From 1 January 2024, the policy applies to all grants and scholarships awarded under NHMRC Grant Opportunity Guidelines. Note that the NHMRC policy applies to peer-reviewed journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers only.
The 2021 ARC open access policy requires research outputs to be open access within 12 months of publication. This policy applies to all research outputs except for preprints, data, and related outputs. Note that it encourages the open sharing of data and other outputs.
For more about the open access policies of grant providers, including the ARC and NHMRC, visit our Funder Open Access Policies page.
Principles for open access at Melbourne
The University has a position statement relating to open access: Principles for Open Access to Research Outputs at Melbourne.
These Principles state the University’s commitment to sharing its research as widely as possible. They also place an expectation on researchers to make their peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers open access immediately upon publication. This can be achieved using either the publisher or repository pathway.
Pathways to open access
In today’s complex scholarly publishing landscape, we can identify two key pathways to open access:
- Open access publishing. The research output is published open access, usually under a Creative Commons licence. This pathway may involve the payment of fees.
- Repository open access. An approved version of the research output is made open access in a repository. This will usually be the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) and an embargo may apply.
Open access publishing
There are several pathways to open access publishing. These are summarised below and detailed on our Open Access Publishing page.
Authors may face fees when publishing open access. This is usually referred to as an Article Processing Charge (APC) or Book Processing Charge (BPC). However, there are many open access journals and publishers that do not levy fees, and fees can sometimes be avoided using our open access publishing agreements.
Fully open access journals and publishers
Publishing your research in an open access journal or with an open access publisher is sometimes called gold open access. This will sometimes require the payment of an open access publishing fee (and APC or BPC).
There are many open access journals that do not levy APCs, being free for authors and readers alike. These are sometimes called diamond open access journals. They are usually funded by institutions, organisations, or societies. Of the over 21,000 journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals, almost 70% do not charge for publishing.
There are also open access book publishers that do not levy publishing fees (BPCs). Examples include Open Book Publishers, Open Humanities Press, and Punctum Books.
The University of Melbourne publishes a range of scholar-led open access journals that do not levy publishing fees:
Discover scholar-led open access journals at the University of Melbourne
Open access publishing agreements
The University's open access publishing agreements can allow eligible authors to avoid open access publishing fees in some journals.
We currently have more than 20 agreements in place with journal publishers, covering over 10,000 journals. These agreements can allow University of Melbourne corresponding authors to avoid APCs. Most of these agreements do not extend to conference papers, books, or book chapters.
It is important to check journal coverage and all relevant eligibility requirements before relying on these agreements for open access publishing.
Hybrid journals and publishers
Publishing open access in an otherwise subscription journal or commercial publisher is called hybrid open access.
Unless the journal is covered by one of our agreements, the authors will have to pay an APC to publish open access. Currently, none of our agreements cover open access book publishing fees (except for our agreement with the Geological Society).
APCs for subscription journals are, on average, higher than those of open access journals. Averaging around 4,500 AUD, we have seen hybrid APCs exceed 16,000 AUD.
The hybrid publishing model is often criticised for “double dipping.” This is because publishers receive both subscription fees from libraries and APCs from authors. For this reason, the University of Melbourne's Principles for Open Access discourages the payment of APCs to subscription journals, preferring the free repository pathway.
Repository open access
If your work is published behind a paywall, the output can often be made open access in a repository. This is sometimes called green open access. It usually involves making the peer-reviewed Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) open access in a repository. This open access pathway is always free.
It often doesn’t cost us anything to achieve open access. Open access is therefore making the most of our rights as authors. Associate Professor Alysia Blackham, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne*
Publisher policies and rights retention
Almost all academic journal publishers allow the AAM of an article to be made open access in a repository. Many academic book publishers will allow the AAM of a single chapter, or the author’s own chapter in an edited volume, to be made open access in such a way.
Publishers’ sharing policies can usually be found on their websites. These are sometimes called green open access or author self-archiving policies. The author's sharing rights should also be specified in the publisher's author agreement. Most publishers' sharing policies can also be found in the Open Policy Finder.
In most cases, an embargo of between 6 and 36 months will apply, unless the authors used a rights retention statement upon article submission. This statement can allow the resulting AAM to be shared immediately under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. The use of rights retention statements is encouraged by the University of Melbourne's Principles for Open Access. It is also mandated, in some cases, by the NHMRC and MRFF Open Science Policy.
Minerva Access
University of Melbourne researchers can often make their AAMs open access by depositing them in Minerva Access. This is the University’s institutional repository for research publications.
When research is deposited in Minerva Access, repository staff check publisher policies and copyright before making any files public. They will also apply and manage any required embargo periods and Creative Commons licences.
View step-by-step instructions for depositing your research in Minerva Access
Subject and multi-disciplinary repositories
There are many open access repositories that can be used to share the AAMs of journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters. The Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) can help you find reputable repositories relevant to your disciplines.
Prominent general, or multi-disciplinary repositories, include Zenodo and OSF Preprints. There are also a wide range of discipline-specific repositories, or subject repositories.
AAMs can also be shared on most preprint servers, such has arXiv.org (STEM), bioRxiv (biology), and medRxiv (medicine and health sciences). However, such platforms may not clearly distinguish between preprints and peer-reviewed AAMs.
Academic networking sites
Academic or scholarly networking sites, like ResearchGate and Academia.edu, can rarely be used to share AAMs. This is because publishers often require repositories to be non-commercial, whereas these sites are commercial. Sharing research on academic networking sites is also finsufficient to comply with funder open access policies.
It is always best to check your publisher’s sharing policies prior to posting manuscripts or final PDFs online. Journal policies in Open Policy Finder will usually note if sharing is permitted on academic networking sites.
Featured content
Explore publisher and repository pathways to open access:
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Open Access Publishing
Find out more about the University's preferred pathways to open access publishing. Explore our open access publishing agreements.
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Repository Open Access
Discover the University’s open access institutional repositories, Minerva Access and Melbourne Figshare. Learn how to deposit your research.
Further support
For enquiries relating to open access, please email your discipline's Liaison Librarians.
Alternatively, you can contact the library with any questions, feedback and suggestions.
* Learn about Associate Professor Alysia Blackham’s experience negotiating with publishers to share more research open access in Minerva Access.
Page last updated 4 March 2025.
Unless otherwise noted, and with the exception of the orange open access icons, the content of this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.
Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) / Accepted version
The version of an article, paper, book, or book chapter that has been accepted for publication. It is the author’s final manuscript version after peer review and revisions. It is a version before the publisher’s copyediting, typesetting, and formatting results in a proof.
Find out more about article versions on the Minerva Access website.
Rights retention
When authors pre-emptively assert sharing rights over peer-reviewed manuscripts at the time of initial submission to a publisher. A rights retention statement usually declares the application of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM). Upon article publication, the AAM can be deposited in a repository for immediate repository open access.
In alignment with the Plan S Rights Retention Strategy, the 2026 NHMRC and MRFF Open Science Policy includes a rights retention requirement for their Repository open access pathway (Author Accepted Manuscript or AAM open access). Upon article publication, authors are expected to make their AAM open access under a CC BY licence in a repository. This strategy is also strongly encouraged by the University's Principles for Open Access to Research Outputs at Melbourne.
For more information on author rights retention, see our What is rights retention? page. Further guidance on the NHMRC's requirements can be found on our Funder open access policies page and in the 2026 NHMRC and MRFF Open Science Policy.
Article Processing Charge (APC)
Fees levied by a journal for publishing an article open access. They are sometimes charged by open access journals and may be their only source of income. Hybrid journals always charge APCs for an article to published open access. For hybrid journals, this is an additional income source to subscriptions.
APCs may be paid by an author, their institution, or a funding body. These charges may be waived if an institutional open access publishing agreement is in place.
Book Processing Charge (BPC) / Chapter Processing Charge (CPC)
Fees levied by a book publisher for publishing a book or book chapter open access. Most major academic book publishers will charge a BPC or CPC to publish open access. Some open access book publishers do not levy BPCs or CPCs, being supported by institutions and other funders. BPCs and CPCs may be paid by an author, their institution, or a funding body.
Creative Commons licences
Open licences that have become best practice in open access publishing. They are built using a combination of elements:
- BY (Attribution)
- SA (Share-Alike)
- NC (Non-Commercial)
- ND (No Derivatives)
All licences are detailed on the Creative Commons website.
The most open of the licences is the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. This licence allows authors to retain their copyright while granting others permission to distribute, use, adapt, remix, and build upon the material. It only requires that attribution is given to the original creator. This is the preferred licence of the Australian Research Council (ARC), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and the University of Melbourne.
The most restrictive licence is the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence. This licence does not allow for any commercial uses or the sharing of any adaptations or derivatives. It greatly restricts how others can use the work. When adopted as part of an exclusive licence to publish with a publisher, it can result in a significant loss of author rights.
Gold open access
Definitions vary, but “gold” open access typically refers to publishing with fully open access journals or publishers. The output is made freely available immediately upon publication, usually under a Creative Commons licence.
Note that some publishers use the term “gold” to refer to paid open access in subscription journals. Today, this is more commonly referred to as “hybrid” open access.
Green open access
“Green” open access is when a paywalled research output is made freely available to the public in a repository. At the University of Melbourne, we tend to refer to this as “repository open access.” We maintain an institutional repository, Minerva Access, to facilitate green open access to research outputs.
Most academic publishers allow the peer-reviewed Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of a journal article, conference paper, or book chapter to be made green open access. That is, they can be made freely available in a repository, usually after an embargo period (typically between 6 and 36 months).
Including a rights retention statement in a submitted manuscript can enable immediate green open access. See our page "What is Rights Retention?" for more information.
Hybrid journals and publishers
A hybrid journal is a subscription journal that allows open access publishing for a fee. These fees are referred to as open access Article Processing Charges (APCs). The journal is hybrid because it contains both open access and paywalled content.
The APCs levied by hybrid journals are, on average, higher than those levied by open access journals. APCs can be waived if an author is eligible for an institutional open access publishing agreement. Some publishers also waive these fees for authors from low-income countries.
Similarly, hybrid book publishers levy Book Processing Charges (BPCs) or Chapter Processing Charges (CPCs) to publish content open access where they would usually be paywalled.
Embargo
In the context of scholarly publishing, embargoes are access restrictions placed on research outputs. While embargoed, research outputs are not available to the public. Embargoes can be temporary or permanent.
Most publishers of subscription (paywalled) journal articles, for example, place embargo requirements on peer-reviewed manuscripts. They often require that Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) are embargoed at publication, typically for 12 or 24 months. Once the embargo has expired, the AAM can be made open access in a repository. Staff at our institutional repository, Minerva Access, check publisher policies and manage embargo periods before making any manuscripts publicly available.
Researchers may also choose to embargo their own outputs. This may be required for privacy, sensitivity, or to adhere to agreements with third parties. Datasets deposited to Melbourne Figshare, for example, can be embargoed when necessary. This results in a dataset record in Figshare with no publicly downloadable files. Graduate researchers may request to embargo their theses under some circumstances.
Repository
An online digital archive, usually open to the public, that stores and provides access to research outputs. Common types of repositories include: institutional repositories, general repositories, and subject repositories.